Disney Expands Its Advertising Business Around Live Events

The Walt Disney Company is expanding an already large advertising business, CNBC reported, with global advertising president Rita Ferro leading an effort to sell commercial time across major 2027 events including the Super Bowl, the Oscars, and the Grammys. These broadcasts are among the most valuable inventory in television advertising.

Ferro has described a strategy that links the live audiences of those events to Disney's streaming platforms. Variety reported that Disney is connecting the Grammys, Super Bowl, and Oscars for large advertisers and selling the Super Bowl as a single broadcast across its ESPN and ABC networks to reach the largest possible audience. The company says it reaches more than 200 million ad-supported viewers each month.

The move reflects a broader shift in media economics. As audiences move to streaming, companies are combining live programming, which still draws mass simultaneous viewership, with digital advertising that can be targeted and measured. Live sports and award shows have become the foundation of that model.

For Disney, advertising offers a revenue stream that complements subscription fees at a time when streaming services across the industry are under pressure to demonstrate profitability rather than only subscriber growth.